McKenzie Magee (left) and Sieherra Short (right) dress up in Second World War garb during a lesson at Bayside Middle School.
Students at Bayside Middle School got a hands-on look at military history Wednesday, where a new teaching program from the Canadian War Museum was officially launched.
The second phase of the Discovery Box program brings both authentic and replica items from the Second World War to classrooms across the country.
The boxes have around 23 items, and come with stories, documents, photographs and lesson plans in both English and French.
Katheryn Lions, who works at the War Museum in Ottawa, says the objects “unlocks” learning and understanding about military history in a unique way.
“They’re three-dimensional objects that students can handle, they can look at. There’s an incredible power to being able to hold history in your hand,” she said.
Today I stopped by Bayside Middle School, where students got to learn all about World War 2 through a “Discovery Box” full of authentic and replica war items. The Canadian War Museum initiative sends the boxes to schools across Canada to engage students in military history. pic.twitter.com/jKRsIw2tcH
— Danielle McCreadie (@danimccreadie) September 18, 2019
One of students, McKenzie Magee, says this was one of the first times she’s learned about WW2.
“I learned what it was like in the war, and what they had,” she said.
Sieherra Short, another student, tells us about her favourite item.
“I was very interested with the little first aid kit, because of the way it seems to be used. It just gives you a sense of what tools they would have,” she said.
Lions says its a very engaging style of learning.
“The power of attraction that the objects have when we start to first pull them out of the box is quickly followed by a keen engagement. They’re trying it on, they’re imagining how their lives might’ve been different if they had lived 75 years ago,” she said.
“For me, that engagement, that energy, that enthusiasm and just really the pleasure of making these discoveries for themselves is awesome,” she said.
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- Some of the objects available in the Discovery Boxes, including an Army helmet, a ‘Miss Canada’ apron worn by volunteers, and a rations kit.
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- A student wears an Air Force jacket and pilot’s hat.
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- A replica jacket worn by soldiers during the Second World War.
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- Students at Bayside Middle School look at an authentic rations booklet from the Second World War.
She explains the museum has about 20 of the Second World War Boxes, as well as 30 boxes from First World War, which are available to schools across Canada at no charge.
The loan period is typically two weeks, which gives students a chance to really delve into military history.
“One of the really neat things that we’ve seen happening in schools is they really use it to best suit their students’ interests, abilities, their customizing it to use it as a prompt for creative writing, some students and schools use it to create mini-museums where they even extend outwards into the community and invite folks to bring their own objects related to the war,” she said.
She says the boxes are all booked up for the fall term, but teachers who wish to bring them to their classrooms will have a chance to apply on November 1st at midnight on the Canadian War Museum’s website.
